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My DIY boat grill

bcpnick

bcpnick

Nick
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Hey guys!

I've been looking through all the old threads on boat grills lately trying to figure out what I wanted to put on my new boat. The Magma grills look awesome, but since I'll usually be out on my boat camping for 5-7 days at a time, I wanted something a bit more versatile so I can cook things in pots and pans and grill at the same time. I decided to buy a Coleman Roadtrip XLE and Arnall's Grill Bracket Set and do up a custom boat grill. The Roadtrip grill has removable griddles so I can replace one side with a pot burner attachment. It's a bit bigger than most boat grills I've seen, and definitely larger than what I was able to find others had mounted with Arnall's brackets, but it seems to have worked out pretty well. I removed the folding legs which is just one bolt. I swapped the nut on that bolt for a wing nut so if I want, I can stow the legs and still use it on the beach. The mounting brackets don't interfere with the legs. I only had to drill two holes into the grill but it was easy. The side trays were hitting the bolts when they would slide in and out so I used a grinder and just took out a little bit of plastic on the underside of them where no one will ever see and they slide smoothly now. I won't know for sure until I get it out on the water, but so far, so good. My biggest worry is rough water as it does bounce a bit when I stomp around on the boat. I'll report back after more testing. Time to go cook lunch on the boat in the back yard! 

Pics:

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Looks Great bcpnick, can't beat a little ingenuity.  I would also like to take a trip with my boat sometime.  You mention your camping trips; do you sleep on the boat with the camper enclosure or pack a tent to pitch on shore?
 
Well, I've only had the chance to do one trip out of the boat so far. It was still pretty cold so I just slept on the floor of the boat with no tent or cover. Once it warms up, I'll start pitching a tent on the beach to keep the bugs away. I like sleeping right under the stars as much as possible but I hate bugs! I usually spend about 50-60 nights each year camping in some form. Most of my trips are spent backpacking so this is a bit of a new experience. I have a handful of trips planned to Lake Powell this year where we'll be beach camping and then another to Grand Teton and Yellowstone where I have some backcountry campsites reserved along the shore. I might end up anchoring and sleeping on the boat just off shore for those just so I don't have to worry about Yogi waking me up at night! :)
 
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Cool. I love to see a good DIY project.
 
Nice !!
 
I thought of mounting mine like that, but was concerned with putting the mooring cover on. I went with the Kuuma Pedestal mount, and mounted it on the right rear corner of the boat. Nonetheless, you had a really good idea as far as the grill you chose, and keeping the heat from your upholstery.
 
1FastSkeeter said:
I thought of mounting mine like that, but was concerned with putting the mooring cover on. I went with the Kuuma Pedestal mount, and mounted it on the right rear corner of the boat. Nonetheless, you had a really good idea as far as the grill you chose, and keeping the heat from your upholstery.
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Yeah, I'll have to take it on and off for trailering and storage, but it's not too bad, just two bolts. It was a little tough to get it on by myself but with an extra set of hands it should be no problem to do at the ramp before launching. 
 
Very nice setup!
 
Nice job.
 
Very cool, love how versatile it is being able to use it on a beach with the legs or on your boat.  Like the attachments for the grill, could make pancakes and bacon   B)   
 
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Looks Great!  Almost big enough to do a turkey!
 
Nice setup! 

Does the grill bounce around much due to torque on the rail?  If it did, you could move it closer to that vertical support to the right under the rail.

If I had this, I would probably wrap some kind of tape around the "C" clamps to better protect the rails when putting this on and taking it off.  Bound to get some scuff marks.

Looks awesome!
 
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Thanks guys!

kaydano said:
Nice setup! 

Does the grill bounce around much due to torque on the rail?  If it did, you could move it closer to that vertical support to the right under the rail.

If I had this, I would probably wrap some kind of tape around the "C" clamps to better protect the rails when putting this on and taking it off.  Bound to get some scuff marks.

Looks awesome!
Click to expand...
It bounces a bit, but not bad. I'll try sliding it down to see if that helps. I took it out on the water today and it performed marvelously. We had everything from glassy water to some pretty strong wind and whitecaps, and even going 22mph through the rough stuff it stayed pretty solid. The inside of the 'C' has a piece of rubber on the bottom and then thin clear vinyl type stuff on each side. I didn't notice any rail damage when I took it off tonight, but I didn't look very close. Wouldn't be a bad idea to get a little more in there though. 

Here's a couple pics of it in action on the water today. I'll post more pics from our trip in another post. Edit: more pics from today here: http://club.benningtonmarine.com/index.php?/topic/3478-the-ice-is-off-in-utah/

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Nice!

What's the white tube bolted to the bimini?
 
Pretty nice install
 
Thought I'd report back on this thread after 4 months of use and then switching to a new boat. 

I still liked this setup, but I would be happier with it if I was leaving my boat on a lake rather than trailering. Removing the grill each trip proved to be a bit annoying, particularly because of some bolt malfunctions. The stock bolts that were designed to lock into notches in the mount stripped out pretty quick and I ended up switching to stainless bolts that I would need to hold a wrench on each side to make work. On two occasions, I still ended up with stripped/jammed nuts to the point that I was going to need to hacksaw it off to drive home, but lucky for me, the bolt broke after wrenching it hard enough. It may have been an issue with bolts too long (the unthreaded part may have messed up the nut), but I'm not totally sure. The last few trips with this setup went just fine. It did however mess up my rail quite a bit. The mounts had a bit of protective vinyl or something inside but it was insufficient. It might be possible to add more protection, but the fit was so tight that I'm not sure. 

On the new boat, I've decided not to try to mount the grill. One of the biggest reasons is because there isn't a suitable rail to do it on because of floor plan, but also because I just didn't use it enough to justify it. We did use it a lot on camping trips, but rarely out on the water. This was especially the case on hot summer days when we wouldn't use it at all except for cooking dinner. Now that I have ample storage room (third tube) I'm more inclined to buy the storage bag for the Coleman stove and put the legs back on and just use it on the beach at camp. That way I don't mess up my rails, get grease on my floor or modify my boat. We'll see how I feel about no grill at the end of the season (4 weeks of multi-night trips are coming soon). 
 
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I have a Coleman Powerpack Perfect flow instastart  2 burner stove. It's identical to yours in size and shape but mine is red. Forgot the model # but it also comes w/a full griddle and other attachments depending on what you want to do. We used to use it every weekend when we tailgated at JMU football games before my son graduated from there. Now my daughter has been using it on occasional camping trips. I entertained the idea of installing it on the boat at one time but it would have been too much of a hassle w/the brackets and having to remove it every time to put the cover on. We did take it on the boat one time to the sandbar/volleyball area. Put the legs on and actually put it on the sandbar in about a foot/foot and a half of water. Cooked steak/cheese/onions on the griddle but there was nowhere to clean up when I was done. What was I going to do.......... dip it in the water? I found out that it was a pain to bring that stove onboard install the legs, the propane bottle, cook, clean up and put everything back in the box. It's a lot easier to just bring food!

Getting lazy in my old age I guess...............
 
Good honest opinions bcpnick and BigKahuna.  We have a cabin on the lake so we never cook but this may save some that are considering
 
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